In today's stores many different types of articles, e.g. vegetables, fruit, and different packages may be purchased. Some stores uses a classification device of an automated checkout counter for identifying the articles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,343A describes how to use a conveyor scales together with a laser scanner for reading labels at a checkout counter. The labels are particularly arranged to be read by the laser scanner and comprises information about the weight of the article which should be matched with the actual weight of the article as read by the scales. A problem with the device according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,343 is that the laser scanner and the scales must be used for identifying the article, which is resource consuming and creates several interruptions in the process if one of the laser scanner or scales should fail. Another problem is that the particular label must be present on the article, which requires that the customer must attach a label on the article if there is no label. Problems may therefore arise due to wrong handling by the customer. The need of a label further provides a drawback in that the customer may not easily purchase bulk articles but will be required to weigh and identify the articles in order to assure the correctness of the required label.
Other known devices are described in CA2054851, U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,190, US20060138220, and US20040262391.
Classification devices of checkout counters are thus well known, but none of the previously known devices are automated for handling different types of articles such as fruit and packages and at the same time being arranged to provide an optimum degree of security with respect to identification, however still requiring a minimal use of sensor resources.